Does anyone here know Johnny Fogg?

Johnny introduced himself to me, corresponded, worked with me, and has now gone to Japan on a scholarship to a school in Kyoto where he studies the tea ceremony. That's the kind of thing you can do when you're 24.

Here's a paper he wrote, from an email about what he is doing. Read it and recall what life is like before you accumulate a lot of expectations. Then go visit http://www.johnnyfogg.com/ to see pictures.

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When we attend tea events we have to write summaries of them, and I try and make mine more

story-like. I type them on my typewriter and hand them in that way, this is the first one I've transcribed
to the interweb. It'll give you a taste of one of my more exceptional days here so far. 3 months down,
9 more to go.


Sasha's chaji:

More so than with any of the other Chaji's that we have attended, this one felt lke somethign outside
of school, even though it was a form of practice, In the tea room it felt like time shared between good
friends. And as happens for me now and again, the time at once stretched and compressed, feeling like
a lifetime had passed, and in the next breath as though it were but a second, a moment. We arrived and
could not aptly communicate to the taxi driver that we wanted to be driven to the top fo the stairs, so
he dropped us at the bottom, the we walked to the top and waited, all of us anxious and excited at what
was to come. The machiae was very dark, we could faintly make out the painting and a poem, which I
have forgotten, but the moment of the characters was light and cooling. The tabaco-bon was rokuhyotan
(six gourds) design which was for good luck, a wish from Sasha and the rest of our sempai for the four of
us shinnensee, gambate for the coming year. As we went out to the garden I remembered reading the notes
which spoke of the chumon separating the outside world from the inside world of tea, the profane and pure
worlds, respectively. I sat smiling and thinking of that as Elena and I looked at the koshikake machiae
tabaco-bon, a russian berry collecting basket made of birch, said to be the national tree of Russia. Elena was
very pleased. We watched Sasha purify herself after filling the tsuku-bai and then greeted her after she
passed through the gate. We entered the tea room and were met with a beautiful darkness, and a familiar
scroll. I recognized it from numerous keiko, it read, "Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu" and I knew it was Sasha's
favorite, "every day is a good day." Through out the whole day she had a lovely smile on her face, but it was
particularly large when she read the scroll for us. The Kaiseki meal was to write home about, the mukosuke
crystal was quite the surprise, beautiful in the dim room. Pouring the sake proved a bit difficult, seeing when
the sakazuke was full sometimes did not work out so well, but we made it through. The sumi-tori was very
interesting, a hotari box with no top, and the Kogo was also of particular note, a pentagon of wood from the
oldest temple in Japan, located in Nara. There was a spherical indent of gold flake which held the byakudon,
a nice accent to the otherwise simple design. The sweets followed, Minazuke made by Sasha and Wiktoriina,
and after having minazuke the following day in keiko from surugaya, I must say I preferred Sasha's. Leaving
the chashitsu, going outside, the quality of the light was different, a bit paler, softer. We returned to teh
Koshikake machiae and my thoughts returned to the chumon, I had the thought that rather than two worlds,
I feel like there are three; there is the outside world, where my thoughts often stay in my mind for a while, a
world where I am capable of frustration, impatience, and a host of other ailments, then there is the world of
the roji, one in which those thoughts may come into my mind, but as soon as they arrive, they pass by, like clouds on a very windy day; then there is the world of the Chashitsu, a world where, through the efforts of the teishu and hanto and all of the others, I am incapable of thinking beyond the present moment, there is only the teishu, the other guests, the dogu and myself, a world without clouds, a sort of piercing clarity.

We retuned to the chashitsu for the second half of the chaji. Just a bit more light had come into the room, and the flowers beamed from the Tokonoma. Sitting in front of them I could swear they smelled sweet, but I think that was the enjoyment of my eyes fabricating goodness for another of my senses. Sasha used a bowl made by the mother of the teacher with whom midorikai students make Raku bowls. It was a deep black with a slight bulb-ing at the bottom, felt wonderful to hold and to drink from. Then came gozumi, the haboki she used was Tsuru, one of the few white accents in the otherwise very subdued toriawase. For usucha she used a rikyugata chu natsume and a tsurube, the well bucket that Rikyu decided belonged in the tea room. At the end of the chaji, during the final aisatsu, she said she was worried that the toriawase was too simple, but I thought, and told her, that it was perfect for that room, and perfect for the day, nothing superfluous, an even and balanced and humble beauty. We emerged from the tea room feeling refreshed, the air was clear, breathing came easier, we were all smiles. Sasha came to the nigiriguchi  to see us off and we returned to the outside world, and I had the feeling that the mind that she, thorough her efforts helped me to cultivate, would stay with me well beyond the Chumon.

Not so much an after thought, but one that sums up the experience, the chashaku was carved by Hounsai Daisosho and named "Ichi e" or "one meeting" which was fitting for all of us guests, it was for most of us our first chaji in our lives, and certainly in Japan, and very likely our only chaji ever as guests at Toin-seki. Beyond the day and into our lives, "Ichie" is a profound way to experience each moment. as if every interaction is the only one of its kind, and in the same breath the first and last of its kind. What I take away from that is to, as often as I can remember, meet everyone and everything in my life with the same mind that I was gifted with in that tea room.



Johnny Fogg

Comments

[Susan Fogg]

Thank you for posting this and thank you for all you have done for and with Johnny .